Archive for May, 2010

Do you love homemade baked goods? Do you still want to help out Nashville? How about both at the same time? Sounds pretty SWEET, because it is!

Join us this Saturday, May 29 for a bake sale featuring some of Nashville’s food bloggers. (And even I’m baking some goodies! I’m a much better baker than cook!) Believe me, you don’t want to miss this! I have been following these bloggers for a while and love their stuff.

Many thanks to foodie blogger Love and Olive Oil for organizing the event! I’m also looking forward to meeting my blogging lovelies (more to be added):

If you’re interested in helping out, visit Love and Olive Oil’s blog to contact her directly. Come bring your goodies, or just come and get some goodies for yourself and help out Second Harvest Food Bank!

Today is a special day for foodies and people who like to eat. Yes, that means you! While most of the flood waters have receded, people and businesses are still working on rebuilding. While not everyone has the time or money to donate to help out others, we all need to eat, right? Why not visit any of the wonderful local restaurants that are donating 50% of their proceeds today to the Tennessee Emergency Response Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee? That’s right, 50%! Most restaurants are only participating for dinner, so check the details carefully.

For the most updated lists of participating restaurants, please visit a couple of my favorite blogs and websites.

As you know, Sally’s city is under water. What a great time to offer some helpful hints for those flooded!

Pumping Water
Need to pump water out of your house? Can’t find any more sump pumps at hardware stores? That’s ok, just go to the garden center and purchase a POND PUMP for less money! Many thanks to my coworker who has a beautiful pond in her backyard for this suggestion! A pond pump can pump 3,500 gallons/hour (that’s a lot of H2O!), can be submerged without electric shock, and is more readily available in a crisis like this!

Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts/Girl Scouts
Need help tearing down or restoring your flooded home? Call upon your local scout troop! They can help with painting, ripping out drywall, etc. And the best part, they will probably get a badge or some other sort of recognition for helping! Besides, the kids are out of school anyway, so might as well give them something worthwhile to do!

ShowersOur water supply is scarce, so we need to take NAVY SHOWERS. Navy shower is: Get in shower, turn on water just enough to get wet, turn off water, lather with soap, turn on water to rinse, turn off water. Time and gallons saved! Also, try to avoid shaving and washing hair, which takes a long time and lots of water! You can also try using BABY WIPES to help clean up. Skip a shower one day and use a baby wipe instead. I’ve even heard of someone using it to help slick back their unwashed hair!

ShavingCan’t shave in a water restriction? Try WAXING! My favorite waxer is not only the best in town, and has the best rates in town, but she’s donating 10% of proceeds to flood relief for appointments booked in the next 2 weeks. Men, you can also try waxing, or use an ELECTRIC SHAVER, or grow a “Flood Beard!” Women, if you must shave, try using BABY OIL instead, it moisturizes and prevents nicks.

Greasy Hair
Can’t wash your hair? Can’t find a good dry shampoo? Just sprinkle a tiny bit of BABY POWDER and rub it into your scalp and then brush out your hair. It’s not a permanent fix, but it will soak up much of the oil and give your hair a little more life. Just be careful, I really mean a tiny bit so you don’t get clumps or get weird white patches of hair. Start with a little bit, brush it out, then repeat if you need more. Also, my blogging sister at One Particular Kitchen, suggested adding a little bit of cocoa powder to it if you have dark hair. Ooh bet that smells yummy! And if you’re a guy…consider taking the clippers to your head for a nice clean “high and tight” look. Normally I do not condone shaved heads and beards, but this is for my city and I’ll allow it!

Toilets
Gallons of water are literally flushed away with toilet use. I’m happy to see at least one restaurant in town brought in porta johns to help their customers conserve water. I know it’s gross, but as the old saying goes: “If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.” Good advice.

Hand Washing
Remember the flu and H1N1 virus epidemic? Remember all the hand washing and sanitizing we had to do? You can help save water by using HAND SANITIZER instead of washing your hands every time. I bought some for my office and hope that my coworkers will help me conserve water!

Dishes and Utensils
We’re still on a water restriction. Use paper plates, plastic utensils, and use the same cup all day long. While it usually may be wasteful to use disposable ware for everyday use, it’s much more wasteful to wash dishes!

Cooking and Food
Try cooking things that do not require the use of a pots and pans. Make friends with your microwave and nuke something without dirtying dishes. Cook a pizza in the oven. Make a sandwich on a paper plate. Eat raw veggies with dip or hummus. (basically eat like me most of the time) We are still allowed to use water to cook (i.e., cooking pasta and for sauces), but do it sparingly and remember that you should try to avoid washing dishes, so why should you get a pot dirty. Try visiting one of our local restaurants, let them do the cooking, and keep the money locally!

Updated:Exercise
What happens when you work out? You sweat and get stinky? Then you need a shower. Well, maybe just this once you can skip a couple workouts. I am, I haven’t run since it started raining and haven’t been to the gym. It’s my small sacrifice. Really a week or so off will not kill you, besides your body needs recovery time just as much as it needs the work out!

Travel
Going out of town? Take your dirty laundry with you! Parents live out of town? Give them a visit and help them relive your college years and take your laundry home to mom. (Just do it yourself this time.) They won’t mind and you’ll save water!

Stay Tuned…I will continue to update this space with more Helpful Hints as I think of them and please feel free to add your own in the comments below! And be an example to your coworkers, neighbors, and friends and follow your own tips and encourage them to do so as well!

As always, follow Nashvillest for all the latest information on the Nashville Flood!

Things are still moving along with the flood. Many of the flood waters have started receding, but that does not mean they have completely receded, it’s just not as bad as 2 days ago. There is still a water restriction, water is still safe, but our reserves are depleting quickly. And yes, it’s been very heartbreaking. I am on the verge of sobbing with every photo and video of flooding in my hometown.

Today is Day 4 of the Nashville Flood. They are calling this a “1,000 Year Flood.” We are not much better than when I last posted on Sunday and in some cases, we are worse. It finally stopped raining Sunday night, but the flood waters and rivers continued to rise. And in some cases the water was oddly bubbling out of the ground, threatening to flood buildings from the bottom up!

Flooding: We think the rivers have finally crested. (fyi, “cresting” means the highest point the water is going to reach before receding, not the highest it has ever been or the water’s act of rising) But now at least one levee is leaking and threatening to break. Some amazing volunteers went down to the site last night and helped build a sandbag wall. Although at least one correctional facility had to be evacuated, the inmates still helped fill the sandbags and volunteers built the wall, well after nightfall last night.

Loss of Life and Rescues: We have had at least 10 deaths in the county and 14 statewide so far, and counting as the waters recede and they are able to get to some of the homes and cars submerged in the hardest hit neighborhoods. Many shelters are at capacity and running low on supplies.

Water Supply: Our water supply is still threatened. The city had to shut down one of our two water treatment plants due to flooding, so we are operating at half capacity. The inmates were also sandbagging yesterday to help keep the waters from threatening the last plant, and apparently the water stopped rising within a foot of reaching the plant. A sewage treatment plant has been flooded and sewage has leaked into the river, but fortunately it’s very diluted from the rain. Our water is still safe to drink, but we have to conserve and use water only for drinking and food preparation. If we put too much strain on the remaining treatment plant, the psi (pounds per square inch) could drop and that is when we could experience leakage and contamination. So, for the meantime, I’m not showering (smell me yet over there?), washing clothes, or washing dishes, and using bottled water, turning off my ice maker, and only flushing when necessary.

Utilities and Public Services: Many locations have lost power and continue to lose power, either as a system becomes submerged or as the electric company has to shut off the power to a location threatened by rising waters. As you know, water and electricity do not mix. Others have lost their gas heat as well, which means cold showers (if you have enough water). Unfortunately with this mixture of water, electricity, and gas outages, we’ve had several fires, and even one home exploded in a nearby neighborhood once the gas was sparked. We are also starting to experience spottiness and outages in cell phones, telephone landlines, and internet, but hopefully that is only temporary and we won’t get completely cut off from the rest of the country. All bus and train services have been suspended indefinitely, hindering many who rely upon those to commute to work and other areas. Mail appears to still be running. We are running low on gasoline due to flooding in some fuel storage areas, but hopefully that will resolve soon. Public school systems are still closed, because some of the buildings have been affected. We’re right at the end of the school year and some kids were in the middle of national exams.

We will make it through this! We have finally started to get some national media attention and the President called the Governor and pledged aid to the city and surrounding area. But there is more you can do!

That is exactly what my city is right now. Under water. Flooded. In my nearly 30 years living here, I’ve experienced a lot of rain and many storms, but I have never seen anything like this. My home is currently safe, but other parts of the area are not as lucky. Glued to the TV, I have seen people trapped on the interstate between flooded areas, as well as helicopter and boat rescues. I watched on live TV as a mobile home floated down the interstate and disintegrated as it hit the cars on the road.

We have already been asked to conserve water, because the water plant has been shut off, and to stay home off the roads so rescue crews can work.

This is a photo of my neighborhood Saturday. Cars are driving on the raised median because the road is flooded.

I usually do not like to ask for help, but we really need more assistance here. We need the national news to get the word out. And we need more rescue efforts.